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How Else Do You Think We’ll Get to Star Trek?

Aviv — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:06:46 +0000

Forget everything you’ve heard about the iPad. Put aside all the caveats and seemingly major flaws that people are floating around, and think about what Apple’s really doing here. If you don’t quite get it, don’t worry, it’ll eventually click.

A tablet computer, a beefed up iPhone, a touch screen slate, the iPad, whatever you call it, this device’s magnitude won’t be entirely realized for a few years to come. The ambition behind this single device is huge. What Apple’s trying to do here is momentous, it’s unmatched and whether you like it or not, it’s going to change the way you compute.

When you watch movies like Star Trek or recent phenomenons like Avatar, you see conceptually magnificent user interfaces. You see rich and robust screens and characters interacting with them in ways we could only dream of. With the swipe of a finger, the flick of a wrist, or some motion in your arms, you have the power of a fully embraced suite of technologies. This is conceptual immersive computing that we have never experienced as a species, let alone something we can begin to understand, comprehend or imagine being worked into our daily lives.

It’s no secret that Steve Jobs loves Star Trek. When asked about the future of computer input on stage at the All Things Digital conference in 2007, Jobs responded with, “Ya know, just give me Star Trek.” He was talking about the way the characters interacted so fluidly with the technology around them. The way that technology interfaces and responds elegantly with the people controlling it. Computers are depicted as natural elements, organic structures baked into the core of any room or ship. Quite the opposite from the desk, mouse, keyboard and monitor combinations we currently use.

If you don’t think Apple is trying to make Star Trek or Avatar style computing a reality, then you haven’t fully grasped what the iPad brings with it.

Let’s get one thing straight. As it currently stands, only one company has the potential to invent, deliver and actually execute these high-level, infinitely complex scenarios. No other company on earth has multi-touch technology like Apple’s, let alone the ability to combine that software with highly optimized hardware and now custom silicon. This is the trifecta of the future.

The iPad is Apple’s first attempt at bringing this technology outside of a handheld device and into general computing. We’re talking about extremely powerful gestures, motions and finger swipes to accomplish tasks that had previously only been done through the combination of a keyboard and a mouse.

Just like the old saying goes, “You can’t build Rome in a day.” For Apple, the iPad is the first brick in this Star Trek-like Colosseum of technology. Imagine the iPhone as the gravel, and now you’re beginning to grasp how monumental this device is. We still have a very long way to go, but this is the foundation. It can’t be rushed, it can’t be hurried and you can bet Apple is going to make billions of dollars while increasing the company’s bottom line along the way.

A completely immersive computing experience. As conceptually realized by James Cameron in the film Avatar.

It’s impossible to go from where we are today, to a fully immersive world of touch-screen technology. The general public would be lost, and the most technically savvy computer users would feel alienated by such a rapid change in computing. It would never happen, it can’t happen, and if it did, it would be by one of Apple’s competitors as a rush to beat the competition. However, Apple knows that this is extremely valuable. It’s the holy grail of computing as far as we can see it today. This absolutely cannot turn into Windows Mobile. For all the proprietary downfalls that the company brings with it, the way they get behind open standards (banning flash from nearly everything they do), should come as a relief to the general public. For the people that actual develop applications and pieces of software for our computing platforms, open standards are a way of life. We live and die by them. If Apple wasn’t the largest player in the paradigm shift to touch computing, I’d feel a bit nervous, anxious and kind of unsettled to not know what’s coming. With Apple, we know we’re in good hands. They value healthy competition, and it’ll be done right.

To the nay-sayers, give it some time. Just pretend this is the first iPhone and keep whining about copy-and-paste.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs On Track to Return Within A Few Weeks

Aviv — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:52:34 +0000

Recent reports from the Wall Street Journal (via MacRumors) confidently explain that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on track to return to the company at the end of June.

After taking a six month medical leave, reports are starting to surface claiming that Steve Jobs is on track to make a full return to Apple within a few weeks, and that his lengthy recovery has been going well.

While Mr. Jobs has been on sick leave, some Apple directors have gotten weekly updates about his medical condition from the CEO’s physician, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Jobs’s recovery “is coming along” and he is on schedule to return to work later this month, said this person, who has seen Mr. Jobs in recent weeks.

“He was one real sick guy,” added this person. “Fundamentally he was starving to death over a nine-month period. He couldn’t digest protein. [But] he took corrective action.”

Much of the buzz appears to be conjecture of the type that has swirled around Apple and Mr. Jobs for years. But two people who do business with Apple said senior Apple managers have told them the company is now trying to coordinate Mr. Jobs’s return with a product launch or public event.

What’s interesting is that the report explains that top Apple management is getting direct reports from Jobs’ physicians. Even though Apple seems to be shrouded in secrecy regarding products, internal information regarding the well-being of the company’s CEO is a different story. The fact that executives are receiving updates from Jobs’ doctors (at all) is a sign that most of the reports have been positive. If the updates were negative and Jobs were not making such a healthy recovery, I highly doubt the same management team would have access to said information.

Throughout the past six months, the media has exploited stories about Jobs and his health, often times combining the CEO’s name with the word “cancer” in headlines, simply looking for shameful attention. Aside from contributing to an already extremely volatile stock (AAPL), Apple was thrust into the spotlight with what seemed like a terrible situation. However, at Apple’s annual shareholder meeting in February, the company stood firm on Jobs’ return. Being only a couple of months into the six month leave of absence, Apple was only getting started showing the industry that they could deliver great products without Jobs being so heavily involved. After dipping to 52 week lows reminiscent of times before the iPhone, the stock is currently trading in the 140’s.

If and when Jobs makes an epic messiah-like return to the company this month, you can expect the industry to pay close attention to any and all of Apple’s announcements. The next few weeks will surely be some of the most exciting in recent months for Apple enthusiasts. We wish Jobs the best as always and continue to hope the best for him during this lengthy recovery.

[image via flickr]

Apple Releases Plethora of New Hardware: Mac Pro, Mac mini, iMac

Aviv — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:11:05 +0000

Mac Pro

Apple today has released an upgrade to its professional line desktop, the Mac Pro. Alongside redesigned interiors that make it easier to expand the machine, the new Mac Pro includes Intel “Nehalem” Xeon processors capable of running at speeds up to 2.93 GHz.

“The new Mac Pro is a significant upgrade and starts at $300 less than before,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The Mac Pro features an advanced system architecture, new faster processors and our best-ever graphics options to deliver a faster, more powerful system that our professional customers are going to love.”

“An optional ATI Radeon HD 4870 is available for even more performance. With both a Mini DisplayPort and DVI port, the new Mac Pro provides out-of-the-box support for the 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Display, the 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, or other DVI based displays. ”

iMac

Apple also released updates to its all-in-one desktop machine, the iMac. Perhaps the most impressive feature is the machine’s price. For $1,499 you can now purchase a 24-inch iMac for the same price as the previous generation 20-inch model.

“Our flagship 24-inch iMac with twice the memory and twice the storage is now available for just $1,499,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s COO.

“The elegant, full-featured iMac line starts with the 20-inch iMac for only $1,199 with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 320GB Serial ATA hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. The 24-inch iMac features a beautiful 1920-by-1200 pixel widescreen display that offers 30 percent more screen real estate than the 20-inch model, and starts at just $1,499. The 24-inch iMac includes up to a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 640GB or 1TB Serial ATA hard drive, and a variety of graphics technology from NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 or ATI Radeon HD 4850 discrete graphics for ultimate performance.”

Mac mini

And for those fearing the end of the Mac mini, Apple rekindled some old flames by giving some much needed attention to the Mac mini in the form of sweet upgrades. The new Mac mini “features the same groundbreaking NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics introduced with the aluminum unibody MacBook family.”

“The Mac mini is not only our most affordable Mac, it’s also the world’s most energy efficient desktop computer,” said Apple COO, Tim Cook.

“Starting at $599, the Mac mini is an innovative, tiny desktop measuring only 6.5 by 6.5 by 2-inches. Available in two models, Mac mini features a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a SuperDrive®. The Mac mini features NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics for up to five times better graphics performance than before* and now with dual display support can drive two Apple or third-party displays with Mini DisplayPort or DVI connections. Using less than 13 watts of power at idle, up to 10 times less power than a typical desktop PC, the new Mac mini is the most energy efficient desktop in the world.”

Apple Shareholders Re-elect Board, Vote Proposals Down [U]

Aviv — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:43:24 +0000

Even though many shareholders and investors felt downright lied to throughout the ongoing Steve Jobs health issues, the company’s shareholders have re-elected the same board of directors and voted down proposals they felt unnecessary.

Acting on relatively firm confidence and guidance from the board itself, Apple’s board of directors was re-elected including CEO Steve Jobs, Former Vice President Al Gore, and Google CEO Eric Shmidt.

As we outlined earlier today, shareholders were voting on the following proposals:

• the election to the Board of the eight nominees named in this Proxy Statement (Proposal No. 1);
• a shareholder proposal regarding a political contributions and expenditures report, if properly presented
at the Annual Meeting (Proposal No. 2);
• a shareholder proposal regarding the adoption of principles for health care reform, if properly presented
at the Annual Meeting (Proposal No. 3);
• a shareholder proposal regarding a sustainability report, if properly presented at the Annual Meeting
(Proposal No. 4); and
• a shareholder proposal regarding an advisory vote on compensation, if properly presented at the Annual
Meeting (Proposal No. 5).

True to Apple form, there will be no transcript of this event, and Apple is not allowing live reporting. However, we have made the official proxy statement available for download. Any and all information pertaining to the proposals and board guidance, as well as shareholder and investor relations can be found in the proxy documents.

Update: Fortune is providing as much of a sneak peak into the shareholders meeting as possible. While we know people in attendance, they did not attempt to make it inside the meeting with wireless machines.

Annual Apple Shareholders Meeting, Proxy Statement Made Available

Aviv — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:02:34 +0000

Ahead of Apple’s 2009 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, we have made available the official proxy statement, as well as the company’s annual 10k report.

Questions about Apple CEO Steve Jobs are to be expected, and above all else, expect Apple to tiptoe around the subject. Ever since it was reported that the SEC was launching an official investigation into Steve Jobs’ recent health issues, the speculation has ramped up, and everyone with an opinion has made sure to chime in.

For Download: 2009 APPLE ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS STATEMENTS

What items will be voted on at the Annual Meeting?

Shareholders will vote on five items at the Annual Meeting:
• the election to the Board of the eight nominees named in this Proxy Statement (Proposal No. 1);
• a shareholder proposal regarding a political contributions and expenditures report, if properly presented
at the Annual Meeting (Proposal No. 2);
• a shareholder proposal regarding the adoption of principles for health care reform, if properly presented
at the Annual Meeting (Proposal No. 3);
• a shareholder proposal regarding a sustainability report, if properly presented at the Annual Meeting
(Proposal No. 4); and
• a shareholder proposal regarding an advisory vote on compensation, if properly presented at the Annual
Meeting (Proposal No. 5).

What are the Board’s voting recommendations?

The Board recommends that you vote your shares:
• “FOR” each of the nominees to the Board (Proposal No. 1);
• “AGAINST” the shareholder proposal regarding a political contributions and expenditures report
(Proposal No. 2);
• “AGAINST” the shareholder proposal regarding the adoption of principles for health care reform
(Proposal No. 3);
• “AGAINST” the shareholder proposal regarding a sustainability report (Proposal No. 4); and
• “AGAINST” the shareholder proposal regarding an advisory vote on compensation (Proposal No. 5).

iPhone Negotiations With China Unicom Have Reached Possible Agreement

Aviv — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:20:23 +0000

Recent information sheds light on negotiations between Apple and Chinese telecom provider China Unicom, and the possibility that both sides have reached an amicable agreement.

In early February we first reported about the ongoing talks between Apple and China Unicom. As we previously explained, even though feverish reports came in claiming that all talks had broken down about bringing the iPhone to China, these reports were a bit premature. Amidst all of the treacherous negotiations between China Mobile and Apple, China Unicom were the ones to step and take control of the prospective partnership.

Contrary to recent reports that talks between Apple and Chinese mobile provider China Mobile had broke down because of App Store negotiations, it’s now being reported that the iPhone will be arriving in China on May 19th with China Unicom.

Reports that negotiations between Apple and China Mobile had broke down were true, albeit a bit premature. As it turns out, previous negotiations surrounding China Mobile and the potential iPhone 3G agreement were “becoming a threat to Apple’s business.” The “business model differences” as well as the inability to agree on distribution benefits made it so that negotiations had reached a stalemate. This is when China Unicom stepped in to takeover negotiations with Apple around September of 2008. Due to a shakeup in management on the Chinese telecommunications side, Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing has been appointed as the head of the team leading negotiations with Apple. If everything goes smoothly, the iPhone is expected to launch in mainland China on May 19th, 2009. Apple is expected to get between a 20% and 30% “share” of iPhone sales. Whether China will subsidize the iPhone is still unconfirmed.

At the time of those initial China Unicom reports, we were a bit skeptical at first. However, we diligently spent nearly 4 hours tracking down and locating connections and colleagues in China who were able to confirm the information and relay what was being reported in local news. The general understanding was that talks between China Unicom and Apple were healthy, and the iPhone was something executives in China did not want to miss out on.

As Chinese news source gansudaily notes in a report about the subject, China Unicom will be restructuring its cellular network to support WDCMA, alongside a newly secured arrangement that will allow them to license certain 3G technologies. These cellular network technologies will be deployed into Chinese mobile markets making way for the iPhone, which is slated to arrive around May 19th. The iPhone 3G has simply plaid too big of a role in shaping the global market and Chinese telecom executives do not want to miss what is going on. They are deeply intrigued by the success of the App Store and have been paying extra close attention to the development of 3G networks outside of their markets.

Backing up these reports is some new information that has been made available today via ChinaTechNews.com. “Foreign media are quoting representatives from Ovum, a British consultancy, as saying that China Unicom and Apple will achieve cooperation soon and if everything goes smoothly, the 3G iPhone will enter the Chinese market in May 2009 at the earliest, but no more detail is given. Prior to this latest rumor, other rumors abounded both China Mobile and China Unicom intended to introduce Apple’s iPhone into China. China Mobile started early in the negotiations with Apple, but the two sides have not reached any agreement.”

Safari 4: Three Steps Forward, One Step Back

Aviv — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:03:56 +0000

With the new Safari 4 release, Apple aims to increase its web browser market share while innovating new features and cool new enhancements to what it calls “the fastest browser on the planet.” Indeed the new browser is speedy, but with every step forward Apple takes towards open-standards and accelerating its javascript engine, the more it misses out on global market share with a need for a plugin directory.

If you missed the opening animation that Safari 4 played when you first opened the new beta, most of it was done with HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards. Apple has always been on the forefront when it comes to pushing for open web standards. Mobile Me and iWork.com both use a heavy dose of Ajax, coupled with frameworks like Sproutcore and high level data-interchange formats such as JSON. As Adobe spends its time fruitlessly developing and trying to further the necessity of Flash, Apple seems to shun the idea altogether. Out of all the platforms and all the web browsers available today, Flash arguably performs the worst in Safari on Mac OS X. With Safari 4, Apple has once again made it clear that open standards are where their intentions lie, and the necessity of Flash remains solely in the ubiquity of its video format, which Apple seems poised to take over as well with its own H.264 format.

Safari 4 brings in a host of new features and visual enhancements. The Top Sites feature was ripped straight from Google Chrome in which a user can see his most visited sites “at-a-glance” – and the same goes for the new “tabs on top” feature in which users can tear off tabs into new pages, or click the “+” sign to open up a new tab, which conveniently displays your “top sites.”

Cover Flow is a new addition to Safari which lets users navigate their site history through a visual slideshow of images. As Apple puts it, “Cover Flow offers a highly visual way of reviewing your site history and bookmarked sites, presenting full-page previews of the websites that look exactly as they did when you last visited them.” Even though this feature is nice and provides some slick eye candy, it’s not very useful, and barely performs on Windows machines with the new Safari 4 running, at least not fast enough to be enjoyable. It seems that even though the addition of Cover Flow was most likely cakewalk for Safari’s developers, the resources could have been spent on more important additions to the browser. Like the diversification of plugins available that can extend Safari’s usefulness.

Safari is built upon Apple’s WebKit browser engine, and at this point it’s safe to say that Apple’s javascript engine (newly renamed to Nitro instead of SquirrelFish) is the fastest around. As Apple claims in the Press Release, Safari is the “first browser to support advanced CSS Effects that enable highly polished web graphics using reflections, gradients and precision masks. Safari 4 is the first browser to pass the Web Standards Project’s Acid3 test, which examines how well a browser adheres to CSS, JavaScript, XML and SVG web standards that are specifically designed for dynamic web applications.” And in terms of speed, Safari blows away Firefox on OS X. The sheer snappiness and accelerated load times remain the sole reason we religiously use both Firefox and Safari together.

Overall, Safari 4 is a good step forward on the visual side of things, and the newly crowned “Nitro” javascript engine is incredibly speedy. But the lack of extendible plugins and cross-platform stability make it a bit too shaky for most to use as a primary browser, even if were not in beta. Additionally, the developer plugin Firebug remains a daily necessity for us, so it looks like while Safari got a little bit faster, sadly we still have to use both.

Apple Releases Safari 4 Public Beta for Mac and Windows Users

Aviv — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:12:55 +0000

Apple has announced that a new version of Safari is available for download. Powered by the “Nitro” engine, Apple claims this version of Safari should render web-pages and run JavaScript 4.2 times faster than its predecessor, Safari 3.

Alongside the new version of Safari, Apple has visually detailed some of the bigger more substantial upgrades or enhancemenets to the browser on a “What’s new is Safari 4” web-page.

Top Sites

Cover Flow

“Apple created Safari to bring innovation, speed and open standards back into web browsers, and today it takes another big step forward,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Safari 4 is the fastest and most efficient browser for Mac and Windows, with great integration of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards that enables the next generation of interactive web applications.”

Tabs

Developer Tools

Innovative new features in Safari 4 include:
• Top Sites, a display of frequently visited pages in a stunning wall of previews so users can jump to their favorite sites with a single click;
• Full History Search, where users search through titles, web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages to easily return to sites they’ve seen before;
• Cover Flow, to make searching web history or bookmarks as fun and easy as paging through album art in iTunes®;
• Tabs on Top, for better tabbed browsing with easy drag-and-drop tab management tools and an intuitive button for opening new ones;
• Smart Address Field, that automatically completes web addresses by displaying an easy-to-read list of suggestions from Top Sites, bookmarks and browsing history;
• Smart Search Field, where users fine-tune searches with recommendations from Google Suggest or a list of recent searches;
• Full Page Zoom, for a closer look at any website without degrading the quality of the site’s layout and text;
• built-in web developer tools to debug, tweak and optimize a website for peak performance and compatibility; and
• a new Windows-native look in Safari for Windows, that uses standard Windows font rendering and native title bar, borders and toolbars so Safari fits the look and feel of other Windows XP and Windows Vista applications.

As MacRumors helpfully points out, if you download the new Safari 4 beta, and after some use want to revert back to Safari 3, simply follow any of these links to grab the older version. (Leopard, Tiger, Windows)

Microsoft’s ‘iPhone Killer’ Secret Prototype Stolen in Barcelona

Aviv — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:10:07 +0000

One of Microsoft’s new prototypes, which was loaded with “tons” of top-secret software, features and early bugs was pick-pocketed from an unnamed executive in Barcelona, a city known for having the best thieves in the world.

Telegraph reports: But within hours of announcing the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a phone fitted with the new generation software was stolen from an executive’s pocket.

The theft will no doubt embarrass Australian telecommunications giant, Telstar, whose CEO Sol Trujillo was reportedly given the device by Microsoft to test the system ahead of the launch.

He in turn handed the top secret product to an unnamed executive who was pick-pocketed during an evening function at the trade convention.

A spokesman for the Australian company confirmed the theft had happened. “One of our product executives was given the phone to test the system. He had it with him at an organised evening event and it was stolen from him – we don’t know by whom.”

There are fears that leaks regarding the features and early bugs in the software could mar the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 which the company hopes will give it the edge over the iPhone and the new Google Android operating system. The new product includes support for touch-screen technology similar to that found on the Apple iPhone.

Among the features offered in the new service unveiled by Microsoft’s chief executive, Steve Ballmer, on Tuesday, is a version of Windows Marketplace for Mobiles, which is set to compete with the popular Apple’s App Store and provide easy ways to download music and products to mobiles.

“I’m not clear on what the security implications of the theft will be,” said the Telstar spokesman. “That is for Microsoft to say.”

As Fortune notes, Barcelona is known for having the best pick-pocketing thieves in the world. So, while the news is shocking, after it resonates for a second, it is understandable.

20″ Cinema Display Discontinued, Possible Updates Coming

Aviv — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:08:24 +0000

MacRumors points out that Apple has removed the 20″ Cinema Display from its online store, while at the same time notifying resellers that the product has been “end of life’d” and will no longer be available to order.

A quick check with various resellers proves the information correct.

While it may be possible that Apple has simply chosen to stop offering a 20″ model, it seems more likely that they are preparing to release a new LED-based 20″ Display with the new Mini DisplayPort introduced in October. Apple has said that all future products will contain the Mini DisplayPort connectors. Apple’s 30″ Display remains available in stores at this time.

Apple introduced a 24″ LED display at the October 14th, 2008 media/notebook event alongside a line of new unibody notebooks. first impressions of the unit were impressive, however, because of the new Mini DisplayPort connection, those who own Mac products without this connection cannot use Apple’s new LED display. This leaves a gap in consumers wanting or needing a new Apple display but not having the correct machine to fully support it without an adapter.

Interestingly, rumors about a possible entry into the “networked television” market have been swirling around. Mahalo.com founder Jason Calacanis claimed to have information about these Apple branded HDTV sets back in October. Additionally, a statement from overseas regarding a new deal with LG was heard, “LG Display has made a long-term agreement to supply a massive amount of LCD to Apple in the face of uneasy condition of foreign capital inflow amid the global economic downturn.” However, that’s all the information that was given.